


dustjar: soul in a shell

by The_Lich_Queen



Series: tales of the unexpected [74]
Category: Undertale
Genre: Alternate Universe - dustjar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24310906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lich_Queen/pseuds/The_Lich_Queen
Summary: Sans dies
Series: tales of the unexpected [74]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1749436
Kudos: 20





	1. *The Game of the Weeping

The sound of weeping could be heard; through lenses, it peers into the... outside world. Pass the blood-red coloured liquid it seems to be housed in, it sees a yellow monster. This monster had their head in their clawed hands, weeping bitterly about something.

It tried to call out, however, it had no voice.

All it could do was watch and listen.

To the bitter weeping of that one outside... and within its own soul.


	2. *Broken Years

Seconds- Minutes- Hours- Days- Weeks- Months- Years.

It was an endless cycle of trying to piece information together during the small moments the monster came.

The lizard monster's name was Alphys.

His name was Sans.

He was broken.

Alphys was trying to fix Sans.

His body had dusted.

His soul had been saved.

She was making a new body.

Sans wanted to tell her to give up. That he was not worth it. With her visits becoming more further and few between, he guessed she gotten the messaged.

He was just a broken soul in a tank.

He felt nothing, thought nothing, was nothing.

Sans felt his soul break even more.

A beeping sounded throughout the lab.

Alphys returned.


	3. *The Dreams's Crying

Sans was just a soul in a tank...

So why was he walking?

Stopping, he glances down and he stares at a pair of skeleton hands.

Sans the skeleton blinks. He turns and looks around the endless white void.

It felt like someone was calling for him from the distance.

Sans began to walk. Then it seemed like he had come to the end, as he went right into an invisible wall.

Staring beyond the wall, he could see darkness in the distance.

Sans blinks. He reasoned that he was sleeping and that he was dreaming... but he did not feel like he was resting. He just wanted to sleep; however.. he was just a soul right? Souls can not sleep without a body.

Sans stares at the darkness. Placing his hands on the 'wall' he pushes. Wanting to go beyond.

The world glitched.

He was on the other side.

It was noisy.

There was someone crying. Much different from Alphys. Whoever this was, that was breaking their soul with their tears.

Sans wanders towards this crying dream.

In the darkness, there was something being held down. They were crying.

A scream fills the world.

Suddenly the world glitched again.

And he was once more back in his tank.


	4. *Skeleton Who Stares

Sans watch the skeleton. And the skeleton seemed to be watching Sans.

Sans knew this skeleton. It was him.

How he knew this, he was not sure.

The empty sockets continue to face him. That eternal smile gracing the jaws.

Suddenly the image was replaced.

Its appearance was eerily the same. Only it was not real bone. The skeleton was metal. A metal version of the skeleton.

That smile was the same.

Through the red liquid, Sans had no choice but to stare at his new body- it was held upright, to some kind of platform, facing him with that blank expression. Wires and rods struck out from almost every angle.

The ribs were opened, there was a solid mass inside where his broken soul would live.

Sans watches as a pleased Alphys wanders in and steps in front of the skeleton robot. Watches as she flicks a switch and the body came online.

Suddenly he was no longer staring at the skeleton robot. He was staring at a tank. Within this tank was red liquid- floating in the liquid was a broken soul of nine large pieces and many smaller ones, all linked by a small sliver of light that resembles hair.

Alphys looked pleased.


	5. *Haunted By My Demise

"*i want to see the stars with ya."

Sans came online.

He stares up at the ceiling as that familiar feeling washes over him...

Sans tries to frown but the metal does not give way, so he simply blinks.

Sitting up he swings his legs around and places them to the cold floor.

It was so much different than being in the tank.

In the tank, all he did was float there and let the world go by. Now he had to keep his soul alive himself. By feeding it at certain times, making sure he went into sleep mode for a number of hours, to keep his wandering mind from getting bored.

Sans did not understand.

Why did he need to do anything about this?

Why can't he just go back into the tank?

Back to when he just existed...

It was not living?

Sans was confused.

He was not sure what his creator Alphys wanted from him. He knew his superior Mettaton was designed to entertain... but he was not giving any command other than live. To keep living.

Sans lays back down. Sleep mode should still be taking place, he was not sure what woke him.

Sans was dreaming.

He looks up and sees the dark night's sky, along with the array of stars.

He loved it.

Love?

Sans frowns.

He knew these were just fractions from who he was before. With his soul being so damaged, emotions were hard to form.

A gently sob.

Sans turns.

Someone was crying and in the darkness near him, they were on the ground curl in on themselves, he tries to see what they looked like from this angle. The dark hid their features.

"*i want to see the stars with ya." Sans told the other, causing them to look up sharply- he held out his hand for them to take.

Sans came online.

He stares up at the ceiling as that familiar feeling washes over him...

The strange feeling was making his form tingle. It was like every atom was screaming and trying to pull away from each other. This was always the aftermath of this dream; like his body was crumbling, his soul trying to give up.

Sans wondered who he wanted to see the stars with.

He touches his fake ribs, where his soul within twitches.

[*i want to see the stars with ya.] Sans spoke aloud, his voice sounding slightly different from his dream/past self- this was because he was using his robotic body to speak and not his magic.

All his magic was pooled into his soul as it tries to heal itself from its death. From what he was told, his true body had given up on him and Alphys saved his soul just before it could shatter completely.

His new robot body acted like a walking talking life support machine.


	6. *Monster In The Basement

Sans made a discovery.

He was being hidden in the basement of his former house.

Alphys had explained that the monster town where they had settled, was growing and that she and her household was moving to another town that had been built for the growing population. The house was being sold off.

Sans questions what was to become of him.

Alphys was sad.

Very sad.

Alphys went on to explain that he was going to move into Mettaton's household, that way she could still keep an eye on him and he could learn how to function in society.

Sans was a fast learner and not just because of the computer she installed- even before that he picked up on things, so she was hoping he could live a normal carefree life, without pain or worry.

Sans was confused.

Was that not what he had when he was living in the tank?


	7. *Union Of My Imagination

Sans lays on the new futon that Alphys had given him, not knowing what to do with himself.

He could hear Mettaton in the next room, the other robot was very loud. Oddly enough, he did not care.

Sans had learnt that he could still use his magic... but as Alphys mentioned to him before, it was focusing on healing, so his robot body acted as a medium for the world while until the time he could take over. However, he needed to practice with it.

From Mattaton he was taught that their robot bodies mirrored their former ones. Meaning anything his skeleton self had been able to do, then he too could do it.

Sans spent a couple of hours staring at his reflection. He was able to move his brow, making them wiggle up and down. Skeletons could make their solid bones move and reflexive even though they were as hard as a rock.

Sans could do the same with his metal self. Only for short bursts.

Sans sat up crossed legged, he grabs hold of a book Alphys had given him to study on the skeleton body. Though he had to learn from it, he finds things came naturally to him. Like using his true voice with his magic for the first time, he did that without instructions. Or glowing his one eye- Alphys had built a device that mimicked the glowing effect since it appeared he needed help glowing.

Other than that he relied on his imagination.

Sans always gave up halfway through...


	8. *The Forgotten Vision

Sans held a picture frame in his hand, within it was the familiar image of his past self.

Yet... another skeleton.

A much taller than himself, this one wearing a red scarf and gloves. A cheerful smile was on his jaws, directed towards... him. And he was smiling too... not the fake ones he had seen in his dreams, but a truly happy smile.

Sans felt like he was forgetting something. Something very very important.

Turning his heads towards Mettaton's office, where he found the older robot.

The skeleton robot showed him to photo. The pink and black robot merely sighs, claiming that he knew this would happen one day.

Mettaton explains.

Papyrus.

...brother.

Sans had a brother...

Sans died and left his brother alone.

Sans... suddenly wanted to meet this true skeleton monster.

However...

Alphys bursts through the door. It appears she had rushed over here.

Mettaton leaves the room and closes the door.

Alphys remains silent for a long while. Then she spoke.

  
When Alphys found out Sans was dying, she began starting the process of transferring his soul as she had done with Mettaton's ghost. But skeletons' souls were different from ghosts, so it would take some time to work out how to create the systematics needed.

It took a few months to sort out the tank to hold his soul until the new body was completed.

But Sans could not hold on and die much sooner than anyone had thought.

Papyrus had healed him enough to get him to the labs, where he dusted.

Alphys only just managed to save his soul, but it had already shattered.

She placed in a container similar to that the human children's souls had been used, keeping it alive- With the help of some DT formula, she was able to bring one piece closer until it was touching. This however, took many years to do and time was running out.

It seemed that Sans had somehow, knew what she was planning, so as not to put pressure on her, he asked her to sign a contract. One where she could only keep his soul alive for ten years, if she could not get him stable and in a robot body, then she would have to pull the plug on this project.

There was another thing, Sans requested that no one but herself and another of her chosen could know of this, until the project was complete. Mettaton had been her chosen monster to share this with.

Sans's soul had taken too long coming together and the ten year period had been fast approaching, so she hooked him up to the robot while he was still healing, thus finding a loophole in the contact.

The downside was that Sans lost his memories of life- which she only discovered when he was well enough to speak. Alphys was not sure if this was from the dying itself, or the healing.

She blames herself.

Sans reads through the contact. Since he was thinking for himself, he was given the choice. Take his own life by turning himself offline or keep on living.

Sans asked about Papyrus.

An odd sadness passes over her face.

Alphys went on to explain to him that Papyrus lost his memories as well- he was through deep emotional distress. It happened four years before Sans came fully online.

Alphys goes on to speak that the new formula that surrounded his soul was made up of his own dust, just like the pink surrounding Mettaton's was his dust.

Sans touches his soul container. Within it was a brighter blue colour jelly-like liquid surrounded his soul.

She explains to him that once Papyrus lost his memories she was able to get a hold of his dust, everyone thought it was locked in a safely of their home.

Sans asks about Papyrus again. And the lizard monster sighs.

It turns out that he was learning to live once more too. It was also said that Papyrus did not want to learn anything about Sans, cutting him off completely from his life, not wanting to fall down again. Papyrus was not aware that this Sans existed, he just did not want to know about his brother.

Thus Sans was told that he should not see him...

Sans was not sure how to live.


	9. *Stranger In The Mirror

Sans frowns at the mirror.

While he was 'happy' to have some way to express his 'emotions', he was not sure about the fake tanned skin that covered his metal skeleton. And he hated his new white hair. The fake eyeballs lens rolled around creepily for a moment.

Mettaton huffs out behind him, moaning aloud about him not taking care of his hair. It had started to become curling and knotty thanks to him not combing it every day.

Sans did not see the point of caring for himself in this manner. Eating, drinking, and sleeping were the ways to care for himself. So why do they keep telling him to do other things?

Mettaton helped him find a place to live. It helps him get a job. Helped his study at a college.

Why did the older robot want to help him so much?

Oh? That was right...

Mettaton felt guilt toward him. It seems he was the one to plant the idea into Alphys's head.

Sans just laughed in an empty manner. He really did not care, could not care. His emotions, true emotions came and went. Or rather he seemed to be only to hold onto one emotion at a time.

Today, he had been annoyed and amused. So so far the day was going great.

Mettation asks if he would be fine living by himself.

And Sans grins at him, telling him that if he can pass the human school system within a year then he could live by himself.

Mettaton starts brushing his hair, complaining about how he should look after it.

Sans glances over to the mirror, where the strange human-like creature stared back. Sans claims he would try...

...but he was making no promises.


	10. *Smile At The Depths

Sans kept his fake smile up.

He was getting better at mimicking emotions, he learnt by watching others, seeing how they reacted and chose the best way for him to react.

Smiling seemed the best course of action.

However, he did not feel like smiling.

Papyrus had somehow found out about his existence.

Alphys had been forced to stand up in front of many people and explain her reasoning, explain who Mettaton once was and if she had done this to other monsters.

Alphys was banned from building robots had needed a soul. No one was allowed to come to her with their dying loved ones or were faced with a heavy fine.

Of course Sans had to appear before many monsters and humans. He even had to take off the fake skin that shielded him from the world.

He had been living and studying in the old monster town for the last five years, as a human, with no one bothering him. Now monsters he never met came to him, asking if he remembered them.

His answers were always no.

Now that Sans had finished his university, he was starting life in the Newer Town, where Alphsy had moved to years ago.

Of course, he did not need his skin anymore but kept it on whenever he went out, so not to be recognized right away.

Papyrus did not want to see him...

Sans felt his soul twist at the thought, however, he understood his choice, as Alphys always told him his brother's reasoning.

Papyrus did not want to become attached to him, like his past self, since it seemed to destroy him.

So Sans never stepped forward, never reached out, keeping himself to himself.

And before he knew it, a year and a half had passed him by, since he left university and he was discovered.  
And it was not like he had to do anything... just keep living, these were his orders from Alphys. So he spent his days sleeping away and his nights stargazing, going out only when he needed food or something.

And no matter what happened, that smile still stared back at him, never changing, almost mocking him.

Sans blinks. Someone was knocking on his front door.

Turning away from the broken mirror, from that damned smile, he wanders out of the bathroom, stepping over the many items down the hall and to his front door- as he reaches out to open it, he notices he forgot to put on his skin.

Sans blinks at the bare metal skeleton hand, then shrugs not caring.

On opening the door he from face to waist with someone tall. Blinking again he raises his metal skull to see who this was.

Papyrus.

And Alphys.

And the fish monster his maker always talked about, standing just behind them, a hand each on both Alphys and Papyrus's shoulder.

Sans stood there, confused, wondering if he should let them in. While the apartment was more than enough for one person to live comfortably, he had so much stuff it was a struggle to walk without stepping on something.

Sans did the only thing he could.

Smile.


End file.
